The Seven Deadly Sins
by saphronandspice
Summary: For a prompt from Bella  carelesswisdom  about Artina and the Seven Deadly Sins. Each chapter will be based on one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
1. Wrath

This story is for **Bella **(carelesswisdom) from a prompt she gave me about the Seven Deadly Sins. Also thanks to **Gabby **and **Emily **with love.

* * *

Wrath

Artie was generally a pretty relaxed person. It took a lot to work him into a rage, and he could generally control it when he got angry. But now, he couldn't remember a time in his life when he had been angrier.

It, of course, involved Tina. Or rather, the treatment of Tina. Leaving his last period class after talking to his history teacher, Artie had headed to his locker where he and Tina had agreed to meet. However, when he got there, Tina was nowhere to be seen.

Checking his phone to see if she'd texted him a change of plans, and seeing no new messages, Artie waiting for a few minutes to see if she would show up. It was when he texted her, with no response, that Artie began to get a feeling that something was wrong.

Wheeling through the now-empty corridors, Artie frowned at the feeling in his stomach that he couldn't shake. It was the feeling that he'd gotten many times before in his life, the uneasiness before something bad happened; before little things like his mom's handbag being stolen, to big things, like his accident.

He was right – wheeling around a corner he saw Tina backed up against a wall, dripping in slushie and surrounded by three jocks. One still had a full slushie cup.

To anyone who didn't know her, she would have seemed like she was calm and unafraid, arms crossed and head up, defiant. But Artie could see how scared she was. She was tiny compared to them, and they were all clearly violating her personal space, right up in her face. To someone who could get as claustrophobic as Tina could, and due to how intimidating the jocks could get, she was in a scary situation.

Artie couldn't hear what the jocks were saying to her as he wheeled faster towards them, but it clearly hit a nerve, because he saw her fists clench. He increased his speed, alerting the jocks to his presence behind them.

As they turned to look at him, and Tina's fear-filled eyes met his own, the jock on Tina's right moved towards Artie enough to see the hand placement of the one in front of her. Although she was clearly trying to shrink as far back as she could and away from the jocks, she couldn't get away from the hand of the jock in front of her, and it was gripping her shoulder, pushing her back against the wall and holding her in place.

"Ah, look, it's your knight on shining wheels." The jock Artie recognised as Truscott said, causing the other two to snicker.

"Leave Tina alone. Go away." Artie said, fully expecting the jocks to throw the remaining slushie at him and leave.

"And why should we?" Truscott said, sliding his hand down Tina's arm and then leaving it against her waist.

It was the look in Tina's eyes, strong fear mixed with disgust as Truscott moved his hand back up Tina's arm again that made Artie's blood boil. The fact that he was touching her at all, and in a way that was clearly making her uncomfortable, made his teeth clench together in anger. And it was the little terrified whimper that she let out that caused such a strong reaction from Artie. Something snapped.

"_Get your hands off her."_ He snarled, pushing himself forward again. One of the other jocks attempted to pull him back by the handles of his chair, and spinning, Artie's fist collided almost instantly with the jock's groin, and Artie watched as he doubled over.

Artie was fully prepared to lunge at Truscott. Everything was red, and his fists were clenched so tightly that they were shaking.

Truscott seemed to realise that he had overstepped the line, letting out a mocking laugh and stepping away from Tina.

"Touch her _ever_ again, and it will be the last thing that you ever do." Artie said through his teeth. As they moved away, helping their in-pain companion, Tina remained standing with her back against the wall.

"You okay, Tee?" Artie wheeled up to her and took her hand gently. Tina nodded, shaking red ice from her hair and wiping it off her face. Her small smile, although it was forced and her hands were shaking, made him feel a lot calmer.

* * *

But his anger returned later that evening when he and Tina (dressed in a pair of his sweatpants and a T-shirt that were both too big for her) were sitting on his bedroom floor doing their weekly tutoring session. Tina was terrible at Spanish, and so Artie was trying to help her with her essay when she threw her pen down in frustration and said, "I give up."  
"No, come on, Tee, it's not that hard." She rolled her eyes and pushed his shoulder jokingly.

"You're so – ow!" Tina didn't finish her sentence as Artie pushed her back. It was a gentle push, so Artie was surprised at the exclamation of pain.

"I-it's okay, you just gave me a fright." Tina tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace as she rubbed her shoulder.

Watching to gauge Tina's reaction, Artie slowly moved his hand towards the shoulder and pulled back the T-shirt to see it.

Artie had never wanted to hurt another person in his life, so the incredibly strong desire to cause pain to Truscott was surprising to him. But as he saw the faint purple bruising, and could make out where the jock's fingers had dug into Tina's skin around her shoulder, he wanted to punch him in the face.

"I will kill him."Artie muttered, and the dark look on his face almost made Tina flinch away from him. Truscott had hurt Tina. He had bruised her, and it made him so angry that it frightened him a little.

"Artie? It's just a bruise."

"_Just a bruise?_ Tina, this is serious." Artie worked to unclench his teeth at the look on Tina's face.

"He gripped you so hard that he _bruised you_. We have to tell someone about this."

"Artie, they push Kurt and I into lockers all the time. Which bruises us. They slushie all of us. They put _Rachel_ into the dumpster yesterday and Mike eventually had to pull her out because she could reach the top. What makes you think that they'll do anything about this?" Artie had to admit that she had a point. But that wasn't going to stop him from going after Truscott. Tina seemed to read his mind, adding, "And promise me you won't try to punch him, Artie, you'll just get hurt."

"Fine." Artie said, but his brain was already plotting revenge. If he couldn't physically hurt Truscott, he was going to embarrass the hell out of him.

Truscott, with the help of Finn and Puck, was going to pay. And a few days later, when Tina saw him running through the halls in his underwear and covered in red slushie, could only laugh.


	2. Gluttony

A/N: Thank you so much to those who reviewed! I really appreciate it. Each and every one makes my day, so please, if you read, review :D

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Gluttony

For once, the entire Glee club, including Santana and Puck, agreed with Mr. Schue's new idea. He seemed, as per usual, to be trying to get them to stop picking on each other, and form bonds, and he had decided that this would be best done through food. Namely, all going on a Glee bonding experience to a local buffet restaurant.

As soon as the trip to _Fishstix _(situated on the other end of town from _Breadstix _and _Chopstix_) was brought up, all the guys were incredibly enthusiastic, and none of girls protested; so Mr. Schue was happy that everyone had agreed on something. The next Saturday, he was seated opposite Ms. Pillsbury at the end of a long table at which his Glee Club was seated.

Artie was at the opposite end, at the very end of the table, next to Tina and Kurt, and having an animated discussion with Matt about football. Kurt, Tina and Mercedes were giggling about a woman sitting at a table across the room who had a very large hat on her head.

"I can't decide whether it should be classified as a species of its own, or fall under some type of bird," Kurt was saying, causing Tina to break out into giggles, as Puck challenged anybody who wanted to a pizza eating contest. He pushed his chair back and grinned as he took off towards the food.

Mike immediately agreed, followed by the rest of the guys but Kurt, who crinkled his nose and declined. Santana both shook their heads in disgust, but Brittany nodded enthusiastically, and Tina shrugged. All it took was a "Come on, Rach," from Finn, and Rachel nodded reluctantly too, but only if the pizza was vegan.

"I'm keen for pasta." Mercedes said, eyeing the long buffet tables. Brittany pulled Quinn to her feet, both laughing at Puck and Finn, who were jostling each other in front of the buffet.

Tina paused halfway to see Artie awkwardly making his way through the tables, and moved back to him.

"Here." She said, handing him her plate and steering him through the tables to the food.

"Thanks." He said, turning to smile at her. "I need to get pizza if I want to join in this competition." Tina shook her head and laughed.

Tina was out after four pieces, laughing as Brittany determinedly devoured a fifth and then a sixth before saying seriously, "If I eat one more, I'll explode. I don't think the cleaners would like that very much." Rachel surprised everyone by, with encouragement from Finn, Matt and Quinn, managed to get down seven pieces before pulling out, looking slightly sick.

Quinn was laughing at the boy's 'war faces' (as Mercedes and Kurt had called them), none of them willing to lose to the others. Santana had remarked that Quinn, eating for two, could probably beat them, but Quinn had crinkled her nose up at the thought of pizza and gone for pasta with Mercedes.

An hour later, Puck, Mike, Finn and Artie were all on their tenth pieces of pizza, following Matt bowing out after eight. The rest of the table was watching as Puck picked up another piece, followed by Finn. Mike shook his head, clutching his stomach. Quinn elbowed him with a grin and he gently pushed her shoulder in return.

"Come on Abrams." Puck said, and Artie deliberated for a moment before picking up another piece. Tina rested her head in her hands; she knew he would regret this later.

While the rest of the Glee kids, Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury looked on in varying degrees of disgust, amusement and awe, the contestants worked through their eleventh pieces of pizza.

"Okay, I'm done." Finn said when he was finished. "I'm so full I think I'll burst."

"Really Hudson?" asked Puck, picking up yet another piece. Artie shook his head as well.

"Wimps." Puck said. "You're such wimps." Artie looked pained for a second before he rolled his eyes and picked up another piece. Tina bit back giggles. Finn leaned back in his chair.

"I'm really done."

"Fine, Finessa." Puck said, causing Rachel to tell him to shut up, and by the sound of the thud, kick him under the table.

They both finished their twelfth pieces, both of them eyeing the thirteenth piece and then each other as if to see who would drop out first.

"Come on Puck." Artie said with a grin, picking up his thirteenth piece. Puck looked at the pizza and then Artie before hesitantly reaching out for it.

"You wimping out Puckerman?" Finn teased, grinning.

"No. Are you questioning my badassness?" Puck snapped.

"Just admit you lost." Artie shrugged. Puck groaned and reached for the pizza.

"You're not going to finish that." Puck said. "You're bluffing."

"Just watch." Artie said. Mercedes leaned on her elbow, pushing her hair out of her eyes. Santana examined her fingernails; both were bored. Everybody else was watching to see who would back down first.

"You're not going to." Puck shot back. Artie brought the pizza up to his mouth. "Okay. You are aren't you?"

"I could eat another couple of pieces." Tina raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Yeah, right." Puck said. Artie said nothing and took a bite of his piece.

"Fine. Fine, you win." Artie grinned.

"And the winner is... Artie!" Finn announced, and they all applauded, though Santana still looked bored.

"Finally." Mercedes said.

"Agreed." Quinn announced, rubbing her stomach. Then, with an overly-cheerful smile and a somewhat evil grin added, "Who wants dessert?"

* * *

"I feel like a beached whale." Artie said with a groan as he pulled himself onto his bed after getting back from the restaurant. Tina laughed and sat cross-legged in front of him.

"I have absolutely no sympathy for you." At his pout, she rolled her eyes. "You're the one who ate all that pizza."

"You guys didn't have to be so enthusiastic about your desserts in front of me though." Tina grinned as the memory of Matt snickering, "Suckers!" through a mouthful of chocolate cake came to mind. Finn had laughed, but looked longingly at Mercedes' ice cream; Mike had shaken his head when Quinn asked if he wanted some ice cream when she went to get it; and Artie had looked like he felt sick when Tina held out a spoon from her chocolate mousse and offered him some. Puck had been grumpy about losing to Artie and just sat in stony silence the whole time. "You took great pleasure in telling me how good the chocolate mousse was." Artie continued.

"Best I've ever had." Tina grinned, laying back across the end of his bed.

"If I could jab you in the ribs with my toes, I totally would." Artie commented. Tina giggled. "I'm so glad Puck gave in when he did though. I don't even want to _think_ about anything to do with food anymore. I'll be sick."

"Would you really have eaten more pizza if he hadn't stopped when he did?" Tina asked curiously. Artie snorted.

"No way. The idiot bought my bluff."

"I _knew _it." Tina said. "You don't have a good a poker face as you think, you know."

"I do so. You just know me really well." Artie said indignantly. "Take that back."

"Why don't you come over here and make me?" Tina laughed, moving just out of his reach. Artie mock-glared at her, reaching one arm out and then letting it drop pathetically.

"I'm too full to move." He complained, and Tina only laughed harder. "Alright, you asked for it." He said, taking a deep breath and then shifting (and taking Tina by surprise) to the end of his bed in one movement. As she realised what he was doing, she tried to move, but he had already found the ticklish spot above her waist. She immediately curled up into a ball, as she did when tickled, and struggled to stop laughing.

"Artie...you...moron..." she gasped out, trying and failing to push his hands away from her. She shrieked as he pulled her closer towards him.

"Take it back." He grinned, grabbing one of her feet as she tried to kick him. She then squealed and struggled frantically as he pulled her sock off and aimed for the bottom of her foot.

There was a knock at Artie's bedroom door and Mrs. Abrams poked her head around it. Tina sat up instantly and pulled her foot from Artie's grasp as he turned to look at his mother.

"Can you guys keep it down a bit?" She asked with an amused expression. "Artie, your sister's got an early start tomorrow morning and she's asleep down the hall."

"Sorry mom." Artie said, watching in equal amusement to his mother as Tina blushed scarlet and tried to straighten up her clothing when she realised that wearing a skirt and trying to kick Artie had proven to be a mistake; kicking frantically had caused it to rise so that her underwear was almost on show. She used the excuse of retrieving her sock to hide her face from view.

"Thanks." Mrs. Abrams said, shutting the door gently. Almost immediately she opened it again and said, "Oh, just so you know; I made cookies before. They're on the kitchen counter."

It was Tina's turn to grin in amusement at Mrs. Abram's confused look as Artie let out a dramatic groan and flopped backwards onto the bed.


	3. Envy

A/N: Thank you for all the amazing reviews, to **Gabby, Emily, Sarah, Brittany, Average Everyday Sane Psycho, Bella, Kirsteena, elektra30 and Char-chan **you all made my week :D

A very special thank you to **Average Everyday Sane Psycho - **you review _everything_ and it really means a lot 3.

This chapter is for Emily with so much love.

The songs mentioned here are _Hit Me With Your Best Shot _by Pat Benatar and _Art of Love_ by Jordin Sparks and Guy Sebastian.

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Envy

Tina was not usually a jealous person. Of course, she had her ups and downs and wanted things in life, but generally tried to earn things for herself rather than be jealous of the hand that someone else was dealt.

However there were several exceptions to that rule, all with varying degrees of jealousy attached. Her mom's ability to eat whatever she liked and do no exercise and yet not gain any weight was a mere annoyance. Santana's and Brittany's tiny figures caused her to poke her stomach sometimes while looking in the mirror and wonder if she should hit the gym. But it was Rachel that had Tina's green-eyed monster really growling.

It wasn't Rachel's life, or style, or boyfriend, or personality that made Tina so envious. She liked her, of course, but was perfectly content with her own life. It was Rachel's confidence; her absolute positivity that one day she would be on Broadway; her ability to stand in front of a crowd without a doubt in her mind that they would love her; that was what Tina craved. She wanted that confidence so badly that it made her chest ache.

Tina had never had a lot of self-confidence (hence the faked stutter). She'd been deathly shy, and the teasing when she hid behind her mother before school stuck with her. She had hated speaking in front of people; had been terrified of saying something wrong, or of what they would think of her.

Since the beginning of her friendship with Artie, Tina's confidence had slowly but surely increased. Joining Glee had only helped, but when she had been given her first real solo in Tonight, Rachel had protested, saying that she wasn't ready, and then, Tina's steadily building confidence had been shot to the floor.

Before True Colours, she had literally been shaking, and the fact that her relationship with Artie had been in ruins didn't help at all. Her mother had always told her not to let a boy be what her life was about, and Tina had always agreed whole-heartedly, but it was hard when Artie was the source of a lot of her confidence. He was her best friend as well as her boyfriend, and he always made her feel wanted, needed and loved. It had taken both Kurt and Mercedes and a lot of chocolate to give her the courage to go on.

But now, now that she had been given the chance for her own song (singing Colbie Calliat's _Bubbly),_ and she was closer to Artie than ever before, she wanted to be able to seize some kind of Rachel-confidence and use it.

They had been sitting in Glee, watching as Rachel belted out _Hit_ _Me With Your Best Shot _when Artie noticed the look on Tina's face. It was like she was analysing the performance, biting her lip as she watched Rachel march around the auditorium stage as if she owned the place. When Rachel finished, and everyone applauded and started to leave, Tina remained sitting down in her seat.

"You okay Tee?" Artie turned in his chair to face her.

"I...I want to try something, okay? And I want your honest opinion. No holding back. Promise?"

"What are you -?"

"Please? Just promise?"

"Okay, I promise." Tina grinned widely, pulling sheet music out of her school bag and handing him a copy before running up onto the stage and stopping Brad from leaving.

"I know this song." Artie said, reading the title off the sheet music.

"I know." Tina said, giving Brad the music. "You can sing it with me, right?" Artie grinned.

"Yeah."

"Remember, no holding back on telling me what you think." Artie nodded slowly and Tina nodded at Brad.

Tina hummed the first note quietly as Artie took a breath.

"I'm saying sorry in advance..." He looked at her, tiny on the huge stage, and she nodded at him to continue. "'Coz this won't always go to plan." She'd shut her eyes when he looked up at her again, and he smiled as he continued. "Though we don't mean to take our love for granted, it's in our nature to forget what matters."

"When the going is getting tough, and we're all about giving up," Tina began softly, building volume as she sang. "Things that we'd never thought we'd say, gonna say them, things that we never thought we'd play, gonna play them."

"It ain't perfect, but it's worth it, and it's always getting better." Artie was still confused as to what Tina was doing - he could tell they weren't just singing this song for the sake of singing it - but went along with it anyway.

"It's gonna take some time to get it right." She dragged out the word right, making Artie grin as she hit every note.

"'Coz I'm still learning the art of love, I'm still trying to not mess up..." They both sung the chorus together, Artie watching as Tina started to move around the stage, kind of like Rachel did.

"So whenever I stumble let me know." She spun slightly, grinning as they sung back and forth.

"You need to spell it out."

"You need to spell it out."

"You need to spell it out."

"You need to spell it out for me."

"Cause I'm still trying to learn the art of love." Artie had heard Tina sing like this before, but only in the privacy of either his or her house. She was letting loose, trying to sing like she was a performer; when it was just them she wasn't afraid.

"If I forget to get the door, remind you that you're beautiful." Artie looked back down at his music to check his lyrics. "I know my detail requires more attention, if I ever hurt you it's not my intention."

"'Coz we're gonna make our mistakes, find out how much your heart can take," As Tina did a very Rachel-like foot movement, it clicked in Artie's mind. She was trying to mimic Rachel's performance. This was only confirmed by the way she belted the next two lines. "But I know that you got my back, and baby I got yours."

As they sung the chorus again, Artie thought about this. The performance that Tina was giving, although fantastic, was really not _Tina._ Rachel was shining through here, and not Tina. While she seemed awkward in her movements, however, her voice was strong and definitely her own. The Rachel-like theatricality seemed to be giving her confidence.

As they finished the song, Tina letting out a beautiful end note, Artie looked up to where she stood on the stage. She was breathing heavily, biting her lip as she waited for his feedback.

"Wow." Artie said, running his hand through his hair.

"You didn't like it." Tina said, wringing her hands together.

"No! No, Tee." She was walking towards him now, chewing on her bottom lip as she sat in the seat next to him. "It was really good. It was great!"

"But..." Tina said, looking at her hands.

"But it wasn't _you_." She looked at him. "Your voice... that's the best I've ever heard you sing, and it's because you know you can do it. But the movements? That was Rachel." Tina nodded.

"I just... I want to be like her."

"Her annoying personality?" Artie teased, getting a grin for his efforts.

"Her confidence. I want to be able to stand up there and sing like I know I can... without fearing criticism if I hit a bad note, or fall over or..." Tina trailed off.

"Okay." Artie said, putting the sheet music down. "We're going to try something." Tina raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She followed him as she wheeled towards the stage until she was standing in the very middle of it.

"Artie, what are we doing?" Artie grinned.

"Singing." He took her hand. "Be _you_. Because you are amazing, Tee. And you can do it."

They started again, and Artie watched, singing his part softly, as Tina gave a Rachel-worthy performance - but one that was entirely her own. He was concentrating so hard on his part and watching his girlfriend that he didn't see Mr. Schue enter the back of the auditorium until he was on the stage as well, and felt a hand on his shoulder.

Tina stopped singing at the end of the song with a beaming smile.

"Tina, Artie that was beautiful." Tina noticed Mr. Schue, and her face, instead of becoming worried like Artie expected, only broke into a bigger smile.

"I _nailed_ it." She said, giggling elatedly. Mr. Schue laughed as well.

"Think you can nail it again in front of everybody?" Tina's huge smile was contagious as she nodded.

And during the next Glee meeting, she did.


	4. Pride

A/N: Thank you very much to **Average Everyday Sane Psycho **and **Emily** for your reviews on the last chapter. If you read, please do review, because it is really nice to hear from you :)

Also, this chapter is set in season 2, but isn't canon because Artie and Tina are still together.

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Pride

Artie could only laugh at this point, although he was headdesking inside, as he saw his girlfriend frantically checking two ovens and stirring a bowl of cupcake mixture, while trying to cut butter and sift flour.

It had all started that day during Glee. The Glee Club were, once again, holding a bake sale to raise money for the bus to Sectionals. This year, Rachel had made a roster, so two people would make the cupcakes each night for the two weeks in which they would sell them at lunchtime. However, with Kurt's departure and subsequent loss of their twelfth member, Rachel informed everyone that, since eleven could not be divided by two, someone would have to either double up, or make all the needed cupcakes for the next day by themselves.

"Well, I would volunteer, but we've got a double football practise tonight." Puck had said, leaning back in his seat. While the other football players had nodded, Santana had raised an eyebrow.

"_You_ would bake the cupcakes?"

"Well, yeah." Puck said. "Remember last year? My batch of cupcakes sold like crazy. Clearly I'm the master of cupcakes."

"That's so badass, Puck." Tina couldn't hold the sarcastic comment, and it was met with some snickers. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I would do it, but I've got ballet tonight." She said, opening her mouth to continue, but apparently Puck wasn't finished.

"It was badass. I baked every single one of those cupcakes by myself in one night. I bet nobody here could do it." He turned to Tina, raising an eyebrow. "Especially not a _girl._"

Quinn's "You also skipped first and second period to finish baking and icing them..." was cut off by the low "ooooooooooooooo" that ran through the room. Artie groaned inwardly as Tina's eyes narrowed. He knew what was coming.

"What are the stakes Puckerman?"

"50 bucks." Puck grinned, having successfully gotten the usually quiet member of Glee so riled up.

"50 bucks?" Tina looked less certain; Artie knew she hated wasting money, and if she lost, it was a lot to lose.

"Oh, so you know you _can't_." Puck leaned back in his chair. "Put your money where your mouth is." Tina glared.

"I can so. Done." She said, holding out her hand for him to shake. He reached out, then quickly retracted his hand, adding, "By yourself, no help." Tina nodded and they shook hands. Artie let his head drop into his hands; he knew that he'd be skipping football tonight to do damage control. Tina was a hopeless cook.

* * *

Sure enough, that's how he found himself in this current moment. After he had made one comment on the way home about how she had bitten off more than she could chew with this bet, ("Seriously, Tee, you burn everything you ever make...") and gaining a glare and a hissed response, Artie just sat quietly, finishing his homework and watching as Tina moved around her kitchen. It had been hours since school ended, and she'd managed to churn out three successful batches of cupcakes. She was a mess; her hair was falling out of its ponytail, she was covered in flour and cocoa powder, and she had cupcake mixture streaked across one cheek. His silent question as to how she'd managed that was answered when she pushed hair out of her face with a mixture-covered hand and wiped it across her forehead.

"Take a break, Tee?" He asked her quietly. She looked up.

"I can't take a break, Artie, I have to get this done!" Artie could see her getting more and more stressed out in front of his eyes, spinning to take out the forth successful batch and put another into the oven.

"You sure you don't want help, Tee?" Artie said, wheeling so that his chair was next to her.

"No!" She snapped. Artie held his hands up in surrender. "I can do this by myself."

"You're stressing, Tee. Here, at least let me help you get your hair off your face." She turned around to look at him, biting her lip. She eventually nodded, and moved to sit in his lap. He pulled out her ponytail gently, pushing the hair back off her face and scooping it up the best he could. She laughed when the ponytail turned out lopsided, but kissed his cheek in thanks. Before she could move away, he pressed his lips against hers, before licking the mixture off the side of her face with a cheeky grin.

"Yum." He teased, and she giggled and turned back to her cooking. "You sure you don't need help?"

I'm fine." Tina stirred the cupcake mixture in front of her, and then turned around to peer into the oven at the batch she had cooking in the oven. He heard her mutter, "Puckerman is going down."

"Okay, if you're fine, I'm going for a bathroom break." Tina just nodded her head distractedly at him.

However, he had just reached the bathroom when he heard Tina yell out from the kitchen, followed by the smoke alarm going off. Spinning, he wheeled as fast as he could back towards her, entering the kitchen to find Tina with one hand under the tap and the other waving a dishcloth at the smoke alarm. A batch of burnt cupcakes sat on the cooling rack on the bench.

"Tee, what happened?" He asked her, as she got the smoke alarm to stop. She turned to him, tears in her eyes as she extended her hand out towards him.

"They were burning in the oven, so I freaked out..." Artie took her hand, noticing the large red burn mark on her fingers and thumb.

"You grabbed the tray without oven mitts!" He exclaimed. She only teared up more, which made Artie mentally kick himself. "Oh Tee." He took her hand and held it under the cold water from the tap. She seated herself on his armrest and he rubbed her back gently.

"I really don't need an 'I told you so'." She murmured quietly. He laughed softly.

"You really did bite off more than you could chew, Tee." Tina nodded, hanging her head. The timer going off made her turn around.

"Could... please could you get those? They're in the bottom oven." She stood up, keeping her hand under the tap, and he wheeled over to remove the cupcakes from the oven.

"Perfect." He proclaimed, setting them down on a second wire cooling rack. She gave him a half-grin.

"Would you mind... I mean... I was wrong." She mumbled, looking at her feet. "Please help me?" Artie laughed.

"How can I help?" Tina grinned, reaching for another apron and chucking it at him.

* * *

Four hours later, after a food fight, dinner break and impromptu dance-off in the kitchen which caused the forgetting, and subsequent burning, of another lot of cupcakes, an exhausted Tina finished putting the icing on the very last cupcake. Artie gathered up the ingredients and put them away, while Tina dumped the bowl, trays and utensils in the sink. She collapsed into a kitchen chair dramatically. Artie laughed and wheeled over.

"We did it." He said. She lifted her head off her arms for long enough to smile at him. "And you, Tina Cohen-Chang, actually admitted that you were wrong for once. Wound your pride?" He laughed as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Like a stab to the heart." She said, acting out the stabbing motion even more dramatically than her slump into the chair. "Puck's going to be a nightmare tomorrow." She let her head drop back into her arms, mumbling, "And you're going to have to pay for my morning coffee until I earn more money." Artie pretended to be indignant.

"Hey, you got yourself into this! I got you out of it." Tina grinned, shifting to sit in his lap.

"And here's your thank you." She smiled cheekily, before leaning in to kiss him.

* * *

The next day, Artie was incredibly proud of Tina. She firstly swallowed her (rather large amount of) pride and stubbornness, marching right up to Puck with the fifty dollars she owed him in front of the entire Glee Club and admitting that she was wrong and Artie had helped her. She then also gave him a lecture about how it wasn't because she was a girl, but because she was a terrible cook and it was a big task for anybody when he made a comment about it.

He couldn't help grinning and thinking, "That's my girl." Of course, he didn't say this out loud. He realised that it probably wasn't a good idea to say that right after she told Puck that he was "sexist and ignorant and put down women all the time by using them and calling them his own".

He was proud, but not stupid.


	5. Greed

A/N: Thank you so much to those who reviewed: **gigundoly, Average Everyday Sane Psycho, Gabby, Danielle, Adatrix **and **Brittany**. Reviews always make my day :) **StudyInViolet**'s review made me giggle, as yes, lust will be the last chapter up. You perverts XD (Kidding, I love you all)

Just a (hopefully quick) note about this chapter - it was the hardest chapter to write so far. I've never really seen Artie or Tina as particularly greedy, so this is stretching the definition of greed to the absolute max - for which I apologise. After a lot of thinking and writing, this is what I've come up with. I hope you enjoy :).

* * *

Greed

It was safe to say that Artie was confused. It was also safe to say that Tina was more than a little fed up.

They'd been spending time together after the term had ended; unwinding after a rather hectic year. After all the drama – nearly losing Glee, Quinn's pregnancy, Sectionals and Regionals, tests and exams – it felt good to just _be_ for a change.

Usually, Artie and Tina were pretty in sync. Being best friends for quite a while before they were ever together romantically meant that they had a lot in common and so liked a lot of the same things and enjoying going to a lot of the same places together. But this particular summer, Artie had a new-found obsession – one that Tina most definitely did not share: Halo.

In the beginning, Tina's arrival in his room every second day or so would cause him to turn the Xbox off. He would roll over to greet her, laugh and joke, and quite often one good morning kiss would turn into a make-out session. They would hang out; going outside, taking trips to the ice cream shop, and one day even had a water fight. Eventually, curious by the game, she had asked him to teach her. She had tried to enjoy it, really, she had, but she was hopeless and although he was endlessly patient, Tina knew that this was something that Artie was better off doing alone.

But as the summer wore on, Tina's arrival meant the pausing of the game, a quick good morning kiss and the return of his attention to the screen.

It became harder and harder for Tina to get him to move his eyes away from the television. She would suggest outings, games, places to go and people to do things with. But he didn't want to go outside, or eat ice cream or even just leave the house; all he wanted to do was crack each new level of his game. Asking him to do something else always got her a distracted "Can we do that later, Tee?" or "Not now, I've nearly beaten this level." Eventually, even kissing his neck and sitting herself down in his lap between him and the screen (a definite way to get his attention in the past) didn't work. Tina, bored out of her wits and really annoyed, hadn't known what to do. When she told him that she was going to get a drink of water, he hadn't even responded. So she'd left.

He assumed that maybe she was hanging out with another friend; shopping with Mercedes or Kurt, or spending time with her family. He assumed that she was too busy to call. He got a few texts from her each day, receiving '_heys_' and '_want to hang out?_' messages, but usually in his game pauses, long after she had sent them. And after meeting Finn in the supermarket one day when both boys were with their mothers, they had arranged an epic Halo marathon, which left his phone forgotten in his pocket.

It was in the supermarket (again, his mom had forced him to go to get him out of the house), Artie's ringtone caused him to direct his attention to his phone. It wasn't Tina's ringtone; and when he checked the screen, still playing the game, he saw Mercedes' name on the screen. Pressing the pause button, he picked up his phone.

"Yo Mercedes."

"I don't know what you did to Tina, Wheels, but you need to fix it." Artie frowned.

"Hello to you too?" She ignored him.

"She's not herself." Mercedes continued. "She won't tell me or Kurt what's wrong – she insists she's okay – but she's not. And I know it has something to do with you because every time your name comes up it's like she dies a little inside. She goes more quiet than usual and avoids our eyes."

"You okay, Artie?" His mother turned around to look at him, where he'd stopped in the aisle. He nodded distractedly at her, listening as Mercedes took his silence for admitting to the crime and continued on.

"We just dropped her off at home after our girly weekend. She's thinking of giving in to her parents and going to Asian Camp because she says she needs to just get away for a bit." Artie frowned again. "Wheels? Are you still there?"

"Y-yeah, I'm here." Artie bit his lip. "I'll go see her."

"You better."

* * *

And so later on that day, a confused Artie wheeled up the path to Tina's house. He knocked once, before opening the door and calling out, "Tee?"

"In here." Her voice was small and when he followed it, he found her curled in a ball on her couch. She was wearing grey sweatpants and a T-shirt that she recognised as one of his old ones. She didn't move as he wheeled in, just bringing her eyes to meet his. She didn't smile. For the first time in forever, no happy grin lit up her features upon his arrival. He wheeled close, but didn't try to make contact with her. She always got more aggressive; as though she was scared that if he so much as took her hand she would instantly forgive him and forget.

"Tee?"

"You know what, Artie?" Tina sounded calm, but she was blinking frantically (Artie knew she was trying desperately not to cry), "I never thought you were a greedy person."

That one hit him for a six. He frowned in confusion.

"What?" She looked down at her hands at his words, twisting the fabric of his shirt in her fingers.

She'd told herself she wouldn't cry. But the tension was thick in the air and the tiny possibility in the back of her mind that this could be it for them made her eyes burn with unshed tears. Logically, her brain told her they'd get through it, and even though she tried to squash the idea that they would break up over something so stupid, she was still terrified.

"Did you ever think about me?" She said quietly, still not meeting his gaze. "Did you ever ask yourself if I wanted to be ignored, day after day? Did you ever ask 'Tina what do _you_ want to do today?'" Realisation started to dawn on Artie. Past days of the holidays flew through his mind, Tina's little sighs as she watched him play Halo, her eye-roll as she tried to get his attention, his distracted "Later, Tee...!"'s.

"Maybe I'm over-reacting, Artie..." she swallowed as tears rolled down her cheeks "...but don't you think that that's just a _little_ bit greedy? Wanting everything your way? Not even listening to m-me? A-and maybe I'm hypocritical..." she hiccuped, drawing in a shaky breath and going off on a tangent as she did, "...d-did I do something wrong?"

"_No_." Artie's answer was so forceful that he took himself by surprise. As he watched Tina wipe her eyes furiously on her arm, he kicked himself mentally. While he honestly hadn't meant to hurt her, he obviously had. Her expression flicked from upset to angry and he looked down at his own hands under the fierceness of her stare, he noticed a form on her coffee table, a pen resting beside it. Reading the title, he understood.

"Asian Camp?" he questioned softly. He could remember Tina's adamant protest against going to the camp, and the argument with her mother that followed. He especially remembered how all she wanted was a hug from him, and how she'd fallen asleep on his sofa with her head on his shoulder. Tina sat up quickly, pulling the form away from his gaze.

"Yeah." She said, her tone icy. "I figured it would get my mom off my back." Artie frowned.

"I...I'll miss you." As soon as the words slipped out, he knew that he'd said the wrong thing. Tina's eyes flashed dangerously, her teeth clenching in anger. He was glad he hadn't come too close; it looked like she wanted to hit him.

"Like you missed me the past couple of weeks? _Please_. Like you even care." At his ashamed facial expression, Tina carried on, her words laced with anger, "I'll go off to camp and you can stay here in Lima with the real love of your life."

_Ouch._

"What do you mean? That's not true. Or fair."

"No. Do you know what's not _fair_?" She snapped. "Thinking that I'd done something to offend you. Being replaced by a video game. That's not fair." Artie avoided her eyes and she sighed quietly.

"Please just go." She mumbled, slumping back down on the couch. "I've got a form to fill out. And packing to do."

"No." Artie said. She looked up at him, shocked at his refusal. "I'm going to fix this, Tee, because I love you too much to let you pass me by because I'm too much of an idiot to hold on." She just continued to look at him, so he continued. "I'm sorry, Tina, I really didn't mean to hurt you. But I did. I was greedy with my time, and uncompromising... and I took you for granted." Tina bit her bottom lip. "If you really do want to go to Asian Camp, I hope you have an amazing time and I'll be right here when you get back." Tina dropped her eyes again. Artie was worried that he was jumbling all his thoughts together, he was so determined to make things right. "But I know you. You don't want to go. And if you stay, well, I'll... I'll chuck my Xbox out the window if that's what it takes." Tina's eyes met his, and she started laughing. _Laughing_. Artie frowned. It never ceased to confuse him how girls could jump from one emotion to the next so quickly.

"What's... funny?"

"I don't want you to chuck your Xbox out the window." She said. "I just don't want to come second to a video game." She tried to smile, but her slumped shoulders and overall demeanour showed him how sad he'd made her.

She didn't seem angry anymore though, either, so he wheeled closer, taking her hands. She tensed immediately and then relaxed, and it was like he trigged her tear ducts because she was suddenly in his lap, clinging to him as she sniffled into his neck.

"I'm sorry, Tee. I really am." He tightened his arms around her as she nodded.

"Can we do something tomorrow? You and me?" Tina asked quietly, lifting her head to look at him. He leaned to over to the coffee table and pulled a tissue from the box on the table.

"Sure. Whatever you want to do." Tina shook her head.

"Can we both choose? Together?" Artie laughed, kissing her forehead gently. She responded by kissing his lips.

"Or we could play video games." Artie joked.

The response was a _thud_ as she hit him on the head with the Asian Camp brochure.


	6. Sloth

A/N: Hey everybody! Thank you so much, as always, to those who reviewed; **Gabby**, **Average Everyday Sane Psycho**, **Brittany**, **Kirsteena**, **Ria** and** malcolm lake**. I'm so glad that people enjoying Greed - I wasn't entirely sure if it would go down well, so I was so happy :). Also a huge thank you to the people who have story alerted and favourited the story :).

Next (and final) chapter is Lust. I'm not entirely sure when this will get posted, but do bear with me, because it will be up eventually.

If you do read, please review! I love hearing from you :)

* * *

Sloth

Lazy days were one of Tina's favourite things in the world. In between schoolwork, studying, Glee, meeting friends and doing housework, they were few and far in between. So when the opportunity arose for her to basically just lie in bed all day, she took it with great enthusiasm. Which was why Artie was faced with a grumpy Tina as he tried to get her to budge from the comfort of her covers.

"Come on, Tee, it's a beautiful day." Artie said, tugging at her bedspread. The reply was an unintelligible grunt and Tina pulling the pillow over her head. "Tee..." He reached his hand out and under the covers to her feet to tickle them. Squealing, she curled into a ball so her feet were out of his reach and lifted the pillow off her head to glare. Satisfied that he had at least gotten her attention, Artie wheeled up to her head.

"Please, Tee? It's sunny outside. We can hang out in the nice weather! My mom made cookies this morning; we can take a whole bunch to the park or something." Tina blinked groggily at him. She was amused at his enthusiasm, but entirely not amused at the fact that her first opportunity to stay in bed all day in more than a month was being sabotaged.

"It's a lazy day." She said, rolling so that she was facing away from him and shutting her eyes.

"So?" Artie persisted. "You can have a lazy day on a rainy day. I'll even have lazy day with you."

"How'd you get in here anyway?" Her voice was muffled by the covers. Her parents were out of town and if people could just get in and out of the house, it wasn't really a good thing.

"Spare key in the pot plant." Artie shrugged, grinning as Tina mumbled "stalker" at him. Knowing her weaknesses, he reached his hands out to rub her back through the cover, stopping as she leaned into his touch. She rolled onto her back to look at him.

"Why'd you stop?" She asked, wiping sleep away from her eyes.

"I'll give you a backrub if you get up." She glared at him again.

"Bribery." Artie shrugged.

"If it works then it's worth it."

"Can't you just come and lie down with me?" Tina mumbled. He definitely looked tempted, but shook his head.

"Come on, Tee! It's so nice out!" Tina couldn't help but feel more amused; judging from the amount of energy he had, he most definitely wasn't going to be able to stay still for long.

"This is important to you, isn't it?" Tina moved so that her face was closer to Artie's, reaching up to cup his cheek. Artie nodded, pouting slightly, knowing that she was caving.

"Please? I'll even make a picnic lunch." Tina rolled her eyes.

"Puppy eyes, Artie, really?" He laughed as she rolled her back to him again. "Fine, but this better be a good backrub."

An hour later, after Artie had over compensated and not only given her a backrub, but a foot rub as well, Tina was still refusing to move from her covers.

"Tee, you promised!" He complained. Tina didn't move her head from where it lay on the pillow, just looking at him and snuggling deeper into her covers. Tingles were running down her spine from the backrub, from where his hands had rubbed circles and shapes along her back. She was sure that there had been a heart or two amongst the circles as well. Blinking to clear her head, she lifted the blanket away from her face for long enough to say, "Sucker!" before giggling and burying deeper into her duvet. Artie narrowed his eyes. Two could most definitely play at that game.

"Look Tee, I'll help you get up." He said cheerily, going to the curtains and pulling them open. Sunlight streamed into the room and Tina groaned, diving under her blankets. She poked her head back out again when she heard her chest of drawers opening and shutting.

"Artie what –?" Her question was cut off as Artie dumped a pile of her shirts on her head.

"Helping you get dressed." He said, fighting laughter as he turned around to head back to her drawers.

"Into a thousand shirts?" Tina said. "Well, at least my top half will be covered." She glared at him again as he tossed a skirt and it hit her in the head.

"Oh, silly me, you'll need some underwear, right?" Tina blushed scarlet, leaping up and putting herself in between Artie and her chest of drawers.

"Okay, okay, I'm up." She said, crossing her arms. Satisfied that she was finally out of bed, he grinned and moved away from the drawers.

"Want me to put some toast in for you while you get dressed?"

"That would be great." Tina said, smiling back at him. Kissing his cheek, she waited for him to leave before diving back into bed and shutting her eyes.

* * *

She heard Artie return by the squeak of his wheels, and heard him stop a little bit away from her bed.

"Tina!" He exclaimed, and she couldn't help but laugh, although she didn't open her eyes. "I thought you might do this, so I came prepared." Tina's eyes shot open in surprise at his words and when she did, she saw Artie with a large glass of water.

"You wouldn't dare." She said, but she untangled herself from her bedding and started to move away from him. He grinned, wheeling closer. "Artie Abrams, take one roll closer – ARTIE!"

The water seemed to move in slow motion as it hit her face. Tina spluttered, coughing and pushing her hair away from her forehead. She wiped her eyes and opened them to look at him, prepared to throw something at him. His facial expression stopped her however; he looked partly amused, partly shocked as to what he had just done, and it was so guilty yet so cute that she felt her heart speed up slightly. Accepting that today was not going to be a lazy day; Tina leapt up and ran from the room.

Thinking that he had upset her, Artie chased after her, wheeling as fast as he could around the corner to the kitchen and calling, "Tee, I'm sorry, I really –"

_SPLASH._

Keeping his eyes shut, he heard her giggle. Pulling of his glasses and wiping them on a dry part of his shirt (difficult considering it was now soaked), he opened his eyes and looked at her, standing next to the counter with another glass.

"Oh it's on."

* * *

Tina definitely didn't get to have a lazy day that day, and Artie definitely didn't get to go to the park. Neither of them really seemed to mind though, spending the rest of the morning and a large part of the afternoon chasing each other around the yard (it was what they later dubbed the most epic water fight ever) and laughing madly. Eventually though, after Artie found the hose and Tina surrendered, the two lay down on the grass in the sun to dry off.

"I'm still in my pajamas." Tina giggled, curling into Artie's side. He was aware of this. He was even more aware that the pajama shirt that she was wearing was white, and that the last glass of water that he'd thrown at her had got her torso. He cleared his throat slightly and laughed to cover it. Tina hadn't noticed yet, just tilting her head to look at him and grin.

"Thanks for ruining my lazy day." She said, her smile becoming cheeky. He forced himself to concentrate on her face, matching her smile.

"You love it." He said, hoping that his voice sounded normal. Tina frowned slightly, wondering why Artie was being so weird all of a sudden. He was blushing, and it seemed like he was trying to avoid looking at her.

"Artie, why is your face so red?" She asked, leaning up on her elbow to try and meet his gaze. He let out a little embarrassed laugh, mumbling something.

"Shirt...water..." Tina moved closer to hear what he was saying, in the process leaning into his side.

"What?" She was totally confused, but when his gaze flicked quickly between her chest and her face, it clicked in her mind. Feeling herself blush bright red, she glanced downwards to check her theory, and sure enough, she might as well have not even been wearing her ratty white T-shirt for all the coverage it was giving her now. Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced up again. He snapped his gaze back to her face, blushing even redder. There was something about the look on his face that made her heart melt and speed up at the same time (a feat that she didn't even know was possible) and before she even registered it, she was leaning over him and pressing her lips against his.

"Best lazy day ever." She managed to mumble against the skin of his neck. She grinned at the little breathless chuckle from Artie, before she got entirely too distracted to think.


End file.
